The other day I landed in one of my favorite chapters in the bible, Psalm 37. And for some reason unknown to me I noticed in verse three it says, “dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.” Another version of this verse is “Trust [rely on and have confidence] in the Lord and do good; Dwell in the land and feed [securely] on His faithfulness.”

Our ultimate safety is with the Lord – in the waiting, in the hard times, and in the seasons of doubt. God provides a safe place for us to process everything with Him. Jesus beckons us to crawl up in his lap and sit a while. To be and to spend time with the Lord is a precious gift. A day with God is so amazing and when we sit in these safe pastures we experience more in the spirit than we realize. There are things behind the scenes being put into place and orchestrated, and God is working on our behalf. When we trust in the Lord, which means to rely on and have confidence in, we learn to dwell in the land because we know there is safety and its safe. When you trust someone, you know they are safe. Being safe and feeling safe, is very hard for an abuse survivor and abuse victims. We need to know there are people out here who aren’t going to take advantage of us and be a safe place to land. What God is teaching me is He is a safe place to land. He provides, protects and keeps his promises (Numbers 23:19 ““God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken and will He not make it good and fulfill it?”). His promises are yes and amen.

But it comes back to trust. Do I trust Him with my whole heart? If the answer is yes, then I can take a step forward into his safe pastures? Often times, we have barricades up around our hearts. Oh, this spot is too painful Lord; I’m going to keep it right here and not let you in any further. If you get too close, we might have to really examine what I did wrong and who hurt me. But he so gently takes our hand and says, “Give it to me. I died for every single wound you did, have and will experience. Let me tenderly unwrap it, forgive and lead you through repentance, and be a light to the dark places.” When he brings that wound into the light, it no longer has power. He gently untangles each crevice, showing you how to forgive and let love in to make it a smooth place. A place where safety can live. This is living in safe pastures. Being able to take his hand, fully trust Him and let him undo all the yuck and lies which keep you from his dwelling place (land of the living in Psalm 27:13-14).

Is the process easy? No. But we can feed securely on his faithfulness, knowing he takes care of everything. So, take a big or a small step into that pasture… on the other side is healing, wholeness and joy unspeakable.

The post Safe Pastures appeared first on .